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A lance corporal charged with murder in the shooting deaths of three Iraqi brothers in 2005 passed a polygraph examination in which he said the first man he shot was holding an AK-47 assault rifle, according to testimony heard in a base courtroom Tuesday.

The test, administered in Iraq in April 2006, showed there was no apparent deception in an account provided by Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Nayda Mannle testified.

Sharratt is charged with three counts of unpremeditated murder for his role in the deaths of two dozen Iraqi civilians following a roadside bombing on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005. The 22-year-old rifleman, who is from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, could face life in prison if ordered to trial and convicted.

Mannle eventually became the lead agent for the Haditha investigation, which resulted in homicide charges for Sharratt and two other enlisted men. Four officers have been charged with dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the incident.

Mannle also testified that while the polygraph did not indicate that Sharratt was lying, the account the Marines gave of the day they stormed four homes did not match the accounts of some family members of the slain Iraqis.

Results of polygraph tests are not usually admissible at trial but can be raised in pretrial hearings.